7th Weekend of Banding 2017

Hello Friends,

Our seventh weekend of banding turned out to be one of our worst ones for hawks in many years. We ended up getting two "Skunked Days" in a row with no birds banded and no bounce outs.

Trudi and I drove up on Friday afternoon to get things tidied up before the Minnesota Falconers Association members arrived for the MFA October meeting that was scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Hawk Harbor. Greg Mikkelson had been up on his trapping site that day and came back to Hawk Harbor to camp for the night with Chris Aleman and her grandson Conner. We all loaded into our van and went in to Two Harbors for supper at the Do North Pizzeria. Todd was at Hawk Harbor when we returned and had a nice campfire going.

Saturday morning Trudi and I met Chuck at Hawk Harbor and went up to the blind to get things set up. Nancy and Rick came up a little later and we were ready to go at 8:45. Rick brought along his daughter Katie who hasn't been up for many years. Around 9:15, Butch Ukura brought his group, the Bee-Nay-She Bird Club, the oldest bird club in Minnesota, up to the blind. The sky was overcast and the wind was mostly out of the North-Northeast. We saw a few shins moving over early on, but none of them looked interested at all. We also saw some Northern harriers, some Bald eagles, a few vultures and a couple red-tails but not one came our way. At noon the bird club left to go birding in Duluth and a few of the MFA members started coming up to the blind. Nothing else came in for the rest of the day, so we closed down at 4:00 in time for the meeting at 4:30.

Twenty-four people showed up for the meeting and cook out, a really good turn out considering the travel distance and threatening bad weather. Trudi did a great job of planning and food prep. Mattie and Joe supplied the drinks, and Conner, with assist from Chris and Greg, did the grilling. Several others brought much appreciated food donations for the cookout. Dave Scarbrough had a non-resident goshawk permit and drove all the way up from Missouri to trap and attend our meeting. The rain held off until the meeting and cookout were over, everyone had their tents and sleeping accommodations sorted out, and we were all enjoying the campfire.

We got a total of 0 birds and 0 bounce-outs on Saturday.

A "Skunked Day".

On Sunday morning, several of the Minnesota Falconers Association group went up to the blind and we had everything set up and ready to go by 8:15. The sky was partly cloudy and the wind was predicted to be strong out of the Northwest. However, the wind never did strengthen, but a fair number of birds did start to migrate. Try, as we might, none of them wanted to come even close to our place. After 10:00 most of the migrating birds were high up in the clouds and out of our reach, so we closed down at noon. Even though we had some rain and no birds all weekend, we all enjoyed the beautiful fall colors and good company!

We got a total of 0 birds and 0 bounce outs on Sunday.

Our second "Skunked Day" in a row.

Total for the weekend was 0 birds and 0 bounce-outs.

A total "Skunked Weekend"

Remember also, to go to You Tube and search Frank Taylor Films or click on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4sdI11-TvxPaQ5nO3PsKKA and then scroll to View All.

Please help hawks by supporting:

Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory (www.hawkridge.org)

The Raptor Center (www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu)

The National Eagle Center (www.nationaleaglecenter.org)

Keep your eyes on the skies.

Frank & Trudi Taylor